Before the Toasts
by ThePessimisticRainbow
Summary: Byakuya and Kyouko engage in a quick conversation at a party. Basically my drabble for Rare Pair Week.


**A/N- My one and only contribution to DR Rare Pair week, and some sort of a birthday gift to myself. Enjoy.**

Parties were not something Kyouko Kirigiri necessarily enjoyed, especially ones hosted by her father. Their lavish house was filled with the many people he had acquainted during his lifetime. If Kyouko had been the judge of it all, only a mere one-fourth of the people who were present would have actually been invited, mainly because the other seventy-five percent of people barely could recall any information of her or her father, or simply knew them because their child attended Hope's Peak Academy, the school Jin was the headmaster of.

She had situated herself in the corner of the living room, observing all of the guests. She had faint memories of a few; A co-worker, her pediatrician from a few years ago, her childhood friend's mother. They were all significant to her in one way or another, she'd like to think, though the fact that they had all only made up a grant total of about 1% of her life still remained concrete in her mind. Her father had advised her to be more socially proactive and converse with the guests, but she had insisted that there was no need for _her _to take initiative with the others until the toasts.

However, it seemed that it could not wait until then.

"Your father's party has been quite successful so far. I'm impressed." A bespectacled blonde boy had walked up to her casually, a jeering smile on his face. It was Byakuya Togami, her classmate, and a one she'd rather distance herself from at that. It wasn't that he was dangerous or anything, and she respected his refusal to be so sentimental with others, but his arrogant nature wasn't that appealing. He, along with his father, had been invited either because of their rank or the fact that they were prime examples of how prestigious and wealthy the students of Hope's Peak can be. This would invoke positive opinions from the audience for sure.

She wasn't going to flat-out ignore the guy though. She straightened her posture as she turned toward him. "I disagree," she told him bluntly.

Byakuya let out a long "Hmm" at her response. "Why's that? Resenting our father's ambitions, are we?"

"It's an obvious tactic to gain popularity from random civilians without doing anything but put on a nice smile and a tuxedo. Anyone should be able to see right through it. Nothing will come from it in the end anyway."

"But isn't that the beauty of it all? Seeing people mindlessly follow a single person, boosting that person's courage, all while knowing they'll still practically be on the bottom of everything at the end."

"That just seems like an even cheaper way to boost your own self-pride."

Byakuya's snobbish grin turned into a more serious expression. It seemed that whatever motive he initially had for approaching her had changed. "You say it's a cheap ego-retainer, I say it's a fact that more people should start realizing. Maybe they'd stop complaining on how things are too competitive that way."

"But doesn't that mean all that competition would ultimately vanish? No more challenges?" Kyouko smirked. Byakuya glared at her. He had said something about enjoying the more "challenging" aspects of being an heir to a successful company in the past. Maybe it was trait that had developed on his when he was younger, or something his parents had taught him to do.

"I never said that _I_ would be the one to gain anything from it."

Kyouko sighed. She honestly didn't feel in the mood for an argument at the moment. "Why are you even talking to me, anyway?"

A silence fell over the two as they stood there, both standing upright with their arms crossed and their outfits both shimmering a bit under the flashing lights. "Because I'd rather spend time not making a show of myself for being successful until the toasts. You're the only one other than my father and the headmaster who had any recollection of me anyway."

"...That makes two of us," Kyouko told him. She was suddenly alerted by her father, who was waving to her along with an elderly woman. However, it was more of a beckoning signal than an actual gesture of acknowledgement and affection. She did not want to leave her spot, not in the slightest, but there were some things that she could not escape. "I have to leave," she finished, swiftly moving around Byakuya.

She could feel a pair of eyes on her back as she walked away.

**A/N- Okay, so hopefully that wasn't completely trash. It wasn't really anything feels invoking rather than just ToGiri interaction that I need more of in my life. I apologize for it being so short too, but hey, what can you do? **

**Thanks for reading!**


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